Maghreb and Sahel Affairs

The Democratic Popular Kingdom of Algeria

Guess who might be starting a political party? Sa’id Bouteflika. Brother Sa’id has long wielded influence under Abdelaziz’s presidency, but his ambitions have not burst into the open before. After amending the constitution, and now apparently starting to push the state parties out of the way, are we even going for a full-blown dynastic succession?

Relentless mocking is called for, but don’t worry, thirty millions of disillusioned Algerians are on the case.

For once, it’s not the fault of the Algerians: contrary to Hafez el-Assad, Muammar el-Qadhafi or Hosni Mubarak, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has no sons. It is for that purely biological reason that succession will have to follow a horizontal axis. Recent news tell us that it’s his brother that will inherit Algeria, offered up on a plate of hydrocarbons like a sacrificial lamb. After this horizontal operation, we’ll continue vertically in 2059, because Sa’id Bouteflika — he has children. In the grand Arab tradition of “one country, one family”, Algeria has decided not to be an exception, but to follow the rules.